‘Nocturnal Animals’ Actress Amy Adams On Gender Pay Gap: ‘I Don’t Want To Be A Headline Anymore About Pay Equality’

The gender pay gap exists in almost all professions in the world. Even Hollywood isn’t devoid of unequal pay. At a recently conducted roundtable of several distinguished actresses that consisted of “Jackie” actress Natalie Portman, “Nocturnal Animals” star Amy Adams, “Empire” actress Taraji P. Henson, “Easy A” star Emma Stone, Annette Bening, Naomie Harris and Isabelle Huppert, several key topics related to the film industry were touched upon.

“Ask the producer roundtable,” Adams told The Hollywood Reporter. “Who you should be asking is the producer roundtable: ‘Do you think minorities are underrepresented? Do you think women are underpaid?’ We [actresses] are always put on the chopping block to put our opinion out there, and that question is never asked. I’m like, ‘Why don’t you ask them and then have their statements be the headlines in the press?’ I don’t want to be a headline anymore about pay equality.”

Even Henson joined the discussion. “That’s why I changed what I was saying, because they expect it: ‘Do you think it’s hard for African-Americans?’ ‘Oh, yes …’”

Adam stressed that questions about representations of minorities and gender pay equality should be directed at producers since they are the ones who make those decisions.

The roundtable also touched upon each actress’ upcoming films. Oscar-winner Portman talked about portraying an iconic character in “Jackie.” The 35-year-old actress was asked whether she felt it was a burden to portray a historic character, Jacqueline Kennedy, in her upcoming movie on the former First Lady. “It’s different, because if they’re still alive, you have this responsibility to them or you know that they’re going to be watching it,” the “Black Swan” actress said, “So maybe it was freeing, in a way, knowing she wasn’t going to watch it.”

When asked what they would like to accomplish that isn’t related to acting, the “Empire” star replied, “Right now, a vacation.” Adams said she would like to get her house cleaned while Portman replied that she would like to make a change in local communities and empower girls to take on leadership roles.

Adams’ “Nocturnal Animals” and Portman’s “Jackie” releases in theatres on Dec. 9 and Dec. 2 respectively.